Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 87

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Necromancer School’s Summoning Prodigy, Chapter 87
“Hmm.”
Serne smiled.
The Legion’s Skeletons and Corpse Spiders surrounded her without a gap. Outnumbered twenty-seven to two, she showed not the slightest sign of dismay.
“Well, this is rather amusing entertainment. I’ll oblige you, Legion Commander.”
She extended a slender, long index finger in a straight line.
Whisper.
An alien pure-white feather rose from her fingertip. Simon watched her every movement with intense focus.
‘So that’s Serne’s unique ability.’
A power that only a select few chosen ones across this continent could possess.
Not dark magic, not holy magic, not pure magic—nothing of the sort. A “superpower” that defied all categories. It was in a different league from the Black Hand that Haren Kok wielded. She rolled the feather lightly in her palm and threw it.
‘Fast!’
Simon gritted his teeth and drew his shortsword, swinging it.
Clang!
Metal and feather collided, but it was the metal that shattered. Still, she managed to alter its trajectory just enough that the feather grazed Simon’s cheek and embedded itself in the tree behind him.
Thump.
In that brief instant, Simon felt a pain like burning in a sulfurous hell, then snapped back to reality.
In less than a second, every cell and organ system in his body had responded, flooding his system with endorphins for pain relief.
‘What is this?’
Cold sweat streamed down his back. Serne spoke.
“This is my power. I can infuse emotion into these feathers.”
Simon turned to look behind him.
The tree with the embedded feather was twisting its branches convulsively. As if sensing its body being eaten away by insects, the trunk synthesized compounds to repel them and released scents to attract their natural predators into the air.
Simon caught the acrid smell of tree sap. If the plant kingdom was reacting this violently…
“Primary emotions like joy, anger, and pleasure, of course—but also fear, domination, helplessness, anything really.”
She conjured new feathers in her hand. Six feathers danced above her palm.
“If the opponent were human, even a single feather would reduce them to crawling on all fours like a dog. Want to see?”
The true offensive began.
The feathers came at a vicious speed, and Simon gasped, launching himself into the air to evade. Each time a feather struck the ground, a loud crack echoed out.
Whisper.
She grasped one feather that had sprouted from her fingertip directly in her hand. It turned pitch-black, then shot forward at more than twice its previous speed.
The moment Simon landed, the black feather reflected in his pupils.
Shriek!
Pier suddenly leaped in front of him, cleaving the feather with his Great Sword.
[Khgh! You alright?]
“As expected, an Ancient Undead’s reaction speed is terrifying~”
Serne murmured. Pier adjusted his pure-white Great Sword.
[What will you do, boy?]
Simon rose to his feet with a serious expression.
“I’ll fight.”
Before the words even finished, Pier’s body shot forward like an arrow.
Serne grinned and hurled feathers.
Pier’s form flashed upward, then his trajectory suddenly bent sharply downward. She raised the feather held in her other hand above her head.
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!
Sword and feather collided in violent bursts of sparks. At some point, the feather had transformed into the shape of a defensive magic circle.
“I’ve been wandering without much thought, but I never expected to face an Ancient Undead here.”
[Hmph!]
Fierce flames ignited in Pier’s eyes.
Bang!
Pier’s Great Sword tore through the defensive circle, and in that gap, Serne retreated.
‘Web!’
Simon’s eyes widened, and the Corpse Spiders scattered about simultaneously unleashed their webbing.
She evaded with easy grace, hands clasped behind her back, her footwork light and graceful—as if she were hovering slightly above the ground.
‘Spear formation, advance!’
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The Skeletons lying in ambush in the grass thrust their spears forward. Five shafts passed toward Serne’s torso, but she simply lay flat backward and dodged.
“How tedious.”
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!
Feathers burst forth from her body, smashing all the Skeletons around her. As she stood again, Pier’s devastating slash—as massive as a mountain—came crashing down upon her.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
A precise combination that left no opening.
As Serne fled skyward to evade the onslaught, Corpse Spiders swung at her from both sides like pendulum bobs. She flicked her feathers with agile precision, shooting them down before ascending higher still.
‘So it’s not just about pouring emotion into the feathers.’
Simon bit his lip as he watched.
“A Legion Commander truly operates on a different level!”
Serne swept her hand like a conductor. The feathers caught in the wind decomposed into Shadow Aura, which then morphed into magical circles.
Twenty or more instances of Multi-Casting—something that would make active Necromancers wince—were to her merely the difficulty of a casual gesture.
Each feather was both weapon, emotional conduit, and magical circle all at once.
Having conjured twenty magical circles, she smiled.
“Dark Flare.”
“…What?”
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-boom!
Twenty bolts of black flame erupted from the circles, turning the ground into scorched ruin. Skeletons and Corpse Spiders were swept up in the overwhelming firepower and torn apart one-sidedly.
Boom!
Simon dodged the direct hit by a hair’s breadth, but more than half his Barrier Gauge evaporated.
‘…That was all Dark Flare? This makes no sense!’
Special Admission Number Two—Serne Aindar—had long since transcended the level of mere student.
[Tepid.]
That was when Pier appeared behind Serne, launching skyward.
Crash!
She slammed downward from the impact. But faster still, Pier—already waiting on the ground below—swung his Great Sword up to meet her.
Clang!
Serne shifted her feathers into a shield to block, and Pier pressed his assault with relentless fury.
“Ugh!”
Having sacrificed feather after feather to defend, Serne retreated a considerable distance, spreading her palms open.
The feathers scattered through the air transformed into pitch-black magical circles, encircling Pier.
[Whoosh!]
Pier’s eyes flashed.
The pure white Great Sword became a single arc, etching countless blade-paths through the void. The magical circles that densely covered the sky were all shredded in an instant.
[You’ve certainly exceeded the bounds of a mere student!]
Pier kicked off the ground and launched upward.
[But that’s all you are—a student, after all!!]
The pure white Great Sword came down with the force to cleave Serne’s forehead in two.
Stop.
“You fell for it.”
The Great Sword halted by a hair’s breadth. Twenty feathers were embedded throughout Pier’s body.
“I lured your attack while laying feathers on the ground beforehand, then sent them up.”
She approached with a light step and tapped his skull once with her finger.
But Pier showed no reaction.
“Twenty feathers of Helplessness. My ability would normally have no effect on Undead, but he’s Ancient Undead, so it worked. Having existed for so long, he thinks and reasons and feels like a person would.”
She turned her gaze toward Simon.
“Well then, Legion Commander? Your trump card is sealed. Now…”
Simon laughed dryly.
“That’s just what you want to believe.”
[Hehehehe! Khkhkhkhkhkh!]
At the sound of Pier’s laughter, Serne spun around.
The feathers stuck to Pier’s body were dropping away one by one with soft flutters.
[You’re right, girl—I do possess feelings. But do you really think I’d be shaken by something this trifling!]
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!
Teal-Blue Darkness burst upward from Pier’s body.
[My will! Is not weak!!]
By sheer force of will alone, Pier shattered Serne’s power and gripped his Great Sword with terrible strength.
Serne retreated hastily, sending her feathers to unfurl a defensive magical circle.
[No more tricks! Die!!]
Pier’s Great Sword scattered light in all directions.
Savage Slash
Roooaaaar!
The slash ground the world in half, detonating with catastrophic force. It was the largest slash from Pier that Simon had ever witnessed.
‘Ugh!’
Trees and plants were torn from the earth by the violent shockwave.
Simon shielded his face with his arm while keeping his gaze fixed forward.
‘…Pier! If you actually kill her, that would be a problem! She’s the heir to the Ivory Tower!’
[Worry suits you.]
Pier hefted his great sword onto his shoulder and spoke.
[That thing is a monster beyond what you’re thinking.]
Cough, cough, cough—
As Pier said, the smoke cleared and Serne came into view.
Simon’s eyes went wide. Three wings sprouted from her left shoulder.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve shown this form.”
And only a single pair of wings at that. Her right shoulder bore none.
This was the true nature of her power. The Dark Element aura radiating from her now was incomparable to before.
‘Pier, could you use that technique one more time?’
[Krhehe! Of course!]
‘If I draw Serne’s attention…’
“But us.”
Serne gestured behind her as she spoke.
“Are we going to keep fighting like this?”
Simon’s eyes widened.
Pier’s slash had split the barrier field Serne had woven around them. Once the collapse began, the entire structure crumbled with a series of sharp cracks.
This was bad. With the barrier shattered, they’d now entered the Observers’ line of sight.
‘Damn it, come back!’
Simon pulled an imaginary lever.
The Skeletons and Corpse Spiders of the Legion that had been surrounding Serne swiftly retreated into the Subspace.
Serne, too, seemed to judge it unwise to keep her wings exposed, and tucked them back inside her body.
‘You go in too, Pier.’
[Me too?]
Pier’s expression hardened.
[The problem isn’t having my identity exposed! Those feathers of hers have the power to reduce a human to a helpless husk with ease!]
‘It’s fine. I have a plan.’
Simon fingered the artifact pendant around his neck that Nephthys had given him.
‘I’ll leave the Subspace open. Once you’re inside, if I find myself in danger, come back out.’
[Understood. Be careful!]
Pier vanished into the Subspace, and Serne’s barrier field dissipated entirely. As the surrounding area lay in ruins, the Observers in the sky began to circle overhead.
“Whew.”
Now only Simon and Serne remained. Simon casually straightened his school uniform necktie.
“That last option you mentioned—it’s off the table now, isn’t it?”
The option to eliminate Simon and bury the Legion so no one else could claim it had become impossible. Kizen was watching with eyes wide open from above.
“Exactly. So what about this instead?”
Serne plucked a single feather and held it against her cheek.
“I’ll toy with you as I please in a fit of anger, eliminate you from the exam, and erase your memory.”
“Ha.”
A breeze stirred. A feather drifted down and landed softly at Simon’s feet.
—You’ll have a painful life at Kizen from here on out.
The feather transformed into a magic circle, and her voice echoed.
—Misfortune will accumulate inexplicably. You’ll fail exams, bungle your practical evaluations, and eventually be expelled from Kizen. Once their protection ends, I’ll come collect you. How’s that? A legitimate and sensible method of persuasion, don’t you think?
Simon let out a low chuckle and placed his hand on his waist.
“Persistent, aren’t you. You’ve been doing this to other students the whole time, haven’t you?”
She simply blinked, smiling as if confused by the question.
It was transparent. The plan was to drive out promising talents from Kizen, then quietly recruit those discouraged students into the Ivory Tower.
Talent poaching, essentially.
Of course, it would be problematic if discovered, but for her it wouldn’t matter whether she was expelled from Kizen or not.
According to what Merin had said yesterday, Serne had come to study here because of a sworn pact with Kizen.
Special Admission was an enormous privilege by any standard, but viewed diplomatically, it was oddly complicated. A major organization like the Ivory Tower had to send not just anyone—but their own heir—to an external institution.
Frankly, it felt like sending a prince or princess as a hostage.
Given that, it was natural she’d come to resent Kizen. Serne’s true goal was likely the complete independence of the Ivory Tower.
‘I’ve stumbled into something complicated.’
Kizen was no ordinary school.
It was brimming with the talent that would one day hold sway over the Dark Alliance and the continent itself.
Various interests and schemes would be lurking throughout this institution, all to lay the foundation of the continent, to sketch its blueprint.
There would be much more factional strife to weather ahead.
Each time it happened, how should he respond wisely? Simon faced yet another new trial.
“Serne.”
“Yes.”
“There are those who won’t submit to your methods.”
Simon slowly took his stance.
“Your way only multiplies your enemies.”
“How dare you preach before me?”
Serne raised her arm. Twenty feathers flowing from it swirled in the wind, converging toward the center.
“I am the next Ivory Tower Master. I who shall divide the continent in three and tear open a new era.”
As she pointed her fingers, the feathers shot forward like bullets.
Simon was stepping into the Darkness to evade them when—
Whoosh!
The air warped, and someone cut in front of him.
What that person did was a simple gesture—a sweeping motion of the arm.
Crack!
That alone.
The feathers hurtling toward him with enough force to tear everything asunder vanished without a trace.
“I think I just heard something amusing—”
The mere sound of that voice sent tremors through his entire body, a presence so overwhelming.
“Who’s being expelled from Kizen? Who’s ending protection?”
Black hair swept across pale skin, and a chilling crimson gaze opened wide.
“Simon is mine to protect. The Ivory Tower’s hound.”
A leading candidate to be the next powerful figure in Kizen, a new pillar rising within the Dark Alliance.
Lorain had entered the battle.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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